Apple is finally allowing iPhone and iPad owners to alter default email and browser apps in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. The company briefly revealed the major change during a slide in the WWDC keynote today, noting that the updates allow users to “set default email and browser apps.”
With the iOS 14 update, users can “set a default web browser and email app that launch when you click a link or want to compose a new mail message,” Apple writes. Unlike Google’s Android, Apple has not previously allowed users to change iOS’ default apps, though the company does let users remove some stock apps from their devices. That’s been a long time headache for users as many people prefer third-party apps for email and web browsing.
Apple has only mentioned browser and email apps so far, so it’s likely limited to just these two types of apps rather than broader default apps for digital assistants or music apps. The change to default email and browser apps will now allow iPad and iPhone owners to select email apps like Gmail or Outlook to handle email links by default, or Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and many other browsers as the default to handle web links throughout iOS 14 and iPadOS 14.
Unfortunately, Apple has also confirmed that third-party browsers will still be required to use Apple’s WebKit as their underlying browsing engine, so the main differences from Safari will be in user interface and syncing options.
